Milestones for Health in America

June 26, 1721 Following the recommendation of
Rev. Cotton Mather, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston of Boston completes the first
inoculation against smallpox in the U.S., injecting his own son and two of his
slaves.

1736 In New York, the city almshouse, located on Broadway
near Park Row, opens an infirmary with six beds. This infirmary grows into
Bellevue Hospital.

May 11, 1751 Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas
Bond receive a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature to open the first
hospital in the American colonies for the sick poor and the insane.

1770 Kings College awards the first M.D. degree in the
colonies to Robert Tucker.

June 13, 1771 New York Hospital, the second in
the colonies after the Pennsylvania Hospital, receives a royal charter from
King

George III under the name Society of the Hospital in the City of
New York in America, later changed to Society of New York Hospital.

Oct. 12, 1773 The Public Hospital for Persons of
Insane and Disordered Minds is established in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was
the first building in North America devoted solely to the treatment of the
mentally ill.

1791 The Society of New York Hospital opens at a site on Broad­way
between Duane and Worth Streets.

July 16, 1798 President John Adams signs into
law, "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen," creating the Marine
Hospital Service that later evolves into the Public Health Service. Federal
customs collectors tax American ships arriving from foreign ports 20 cents per
sailor per month to pay for construction and mainte­nance of marine hospitals.
This sum is subtracted from the wages of seamen.

March 1, 1799 The Lying-in Hospital of the City
of New York is chartered, the first to provide obstetrical care for women in
New York City.